Professor Claims To Have Discovered The World's Oldest Torah Scroll In Italy

A Torah scroll dating from as early as the 12th century was found
tucked away in the University of Bologna's library after sitting
mislabeled for over 120 years.

Discovered by Hebrew Professor Mauro Perani, two separate
carbon-14 tests showed that the scroll dated from between 1155
and 1225, making it the oldest complete Torah scroll on record.

According to a press release, the manuscript was
misidentified in 1889 when the head librarian dated it to the
17th century and described the Hebrew letters as "an Italian
script, rather clumsy-looking."

In fact, the script was from the Bablyonian tradition, which
would make it much older, according to Professor Perani. The
professor also noticed that the 13th century rules for copying
Torah scrolls — that are still followed today — were not used for
this text.

It is still unknown how and when the scroll became a part of the
University's collection, but an investigation is under way to
find the source, according to the academic press release.